“Driving intoxicated with children in the car is a form of child abuse pure and simple. It must not be tolerated by lawmakers, communities, or family members. No child should be put at risk by having to ride in the car with a drinking driver. We call on lawmakers and public safety officials to do more to stop drivers from taking deadly chances with the lives of kids.”

Laura Dean-Mooney

MADD National President

Americans believe in protecting children. Yet, many of us don’t understand that driving while impaired with children in the vehicle is a form of child endangerment – even abuse. Learn more about Child Endangerment laws.

In a 2003 study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that between 1997 and 2002, 2,335 children died in car crashes involving drinking drivers. Of those children killed, 68 percent were riding in the car with a drinking driver. In recent years, this has declined slightly, but even now, over half of all children killed in alcohol-related crashes were riding with the drinking driver.

No one should have to choose to ride with an impaired driver. Sadly, minor children often have little choice when that driver is a parent or other trusted adult.

MADD believes that parents or caregivers who knowingly put a child in the car after drinking alcohol with the intention to drive are guilty of child endangerment and abuse. To help protect the thousands of children who are at risk of injury or death each year, MADD is actively pushing for tougher child endangerment laws; stricter enforcement by police and prosecutors; and training and public awareness for judges, attorneys, law enforcement, family service agencies and other officials.

Statistics and Implications

Additional research highlights the scope and seriousness of the child endangerment issue. Here are highlights.

A 1999 national telephone survey, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), estimates that between 46 and 102 million drinking-driving trips are made each year with children under the age of 15 in the vehicle.

Of all drivers transporting a child who died, drinking drivers were more than twice as likely as non-drinking drivers to have had a previous license suspension (17.1 percent vs. 7.1 percent) and more than six times as likely to have a conviction for driving while intoxicated (7.9 percent vs. 1.2 percent). These findings underscore the serious risk that people arrested for alcohol-impaired driving pose to others and to themselves.

Drivers who have been arrested for driving while impaired are known to be at substantially increased risk of future death in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes compared with drivers who have not been arrested for this offense. In addition, studies have shown that over 70 percent of the drivers arrested for driving while impaired have alcohol abuse problems and that between 10 percent and 50 percent are alcohol dependent. Taken together, these findings emphasize the importance of aggressive intervention with persons convicted of DUI/DWI, including evaluation and treatment for alcohol problems, to prevent future deaths in alcohol-related crashes.

Of the children who died while riding in the same vehicle with the drinking driver, only 29 percent were known to have been restrained. (Restraint use was unknown for another 9 percent of child passenger deaths.) As the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of the child’s driver increased, child restraint use decreased. Strong enforcement of child safety seat laws and passage of primary enforcement seat belt laws in all states could further reduce child passenger deaths. The safety benefits of stricter enforcement of restraint laws may be even greater for children who are transported by drinking drivers because these drivers are known to have higher rates of serious crashes.

During the five-year period of 1997-2001, 58 percent of the alcohol-related crashes in which a child passenger died while riding with the drinking driver occurred during daytime or evening hours (6 a.m. to 9 p.m.). This finding adds further support for the need to increase high visibility enforcement of child safety seat, primary seat belt, and DUI/DWI laws, including the daytime hours.

The MADD Report

In March 2004, MADD released its report Child Endangerment Report: Every Child Deserves a Designated Driver. This comprehensive report, based on the recommendations of an expert panel of child and victim advocates, attorneys, judges, law enforcement officials, policy specialists and a bereaved parent, highlights weaknesses in state laws against child endangerment and calls for increased penalties and more training and awareness about the problem.

The report found that drivers who are caught drinking and driving with a child in the car are often not charged with child endangerment and that when such charges are brought, they are often reduced through plea-bargaining or dismissed.

Recommendations for Improvement

• Providing public awareness and training on child endangerment issues for judges, attorneys, law enforcement, family service agencies/professionals, and other heath and safety officials.
• Establishing state child endangerment laws that apply specifically to children at least 16 years of age. 
• Increasing enforcement of child passenger safety laws, adopt primary seat belt laws, and consider a provision for adding points to driver’s license records for violations.
• Providing for the revocation or suspension of drivers’ licenses for alcohol-related child endangerment violations.
• Requiring the installation of alcohol ignition interlock device on vehicles used by a child endangerment offender to transport children.
• Include a mandatory provision in every separation agreement and divorce decree that prohibits either parent from drinking and driving (or driving under the influence of other drugs) with minor children in the vehicle.

Tips and Resources

• If you see an adult who is visibly impaired attempting to drive with a child in the car, calmly suggest alternative transportation, recommend the driver postpone travel or offer to drive the child.  Also, call 911 with as much information as possible, document the situation and notify another parent or caregiver immediately.
• If you’re a parent who’s dealing with repeat violations, child custody and visitation, ask a third party, like a neighbor, to witness when the child is picked up. In addition, request a court-ordered alcohol and drug assessment that will consider some of the provisions outlined above.
• If you’re a parent or caregiver, teach children techniques for keeping themselves safe. If forced to ride with an impaired driver, children should:
  • Sit in the middle of the back seat
  • Place their belongings on the floor.
  • Always buckle seat belts or use a child safety seat.
  • Do not bother or distract the driver
  • Tell a trusted adult immediately about any unsafe ride.

• Every Child Deserves a Designated Driver brochure 
• Someone You Know Drinks and Drives brochure
• "Children Without a Choice" – MADDvocate Spring 2004 article 

If your child has been a victim of drunk driving, visit the parents section of our site. You can also get MADD’s grief workbook Hangin’ in There With Nigel, which is specifically designed for bereaved children, by clicking the link to download a PDF or to order a copy. MADD’s brochure How Are You Feeling? is a guide to loss, grief and healing specifically designed for bereaved teens. Click the link to download a PDF or to order a copy for your child. MADD also has the teen journaling companion Moving Forward…Never Forgetting that includes a picture frame magnet in a metal keepsake box. Call 1-877-MADD-HELP (1-877-623-3435) to order one.   

Get Involved

If you want to help empower children with these tips and other safety messages, work with your local school system to incorporate MADD’s nationally recognized Protecting You/Protecting Me program into their elementary school curriculum.

You can also take action by clicking here to contact your representative or legislator about supporting tougher Child Endangerment laws and stronger enforcement of the laws.